


Year 1: Agatha Heterodyne and the Hive Engine

by JeckParadox



Category: Girl Genius, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Kid Fic, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-03-08 14:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3213089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeckParadox/pseuds/JeckParadox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While Hogwarts may be the finest Wizard school in all of Britain, it might not be the finest school in all the world. That honor might belong to Beauxbaton of France, or perhaps Durmstrang to the North.<br/>However, another contender might be the flying Wulfenbach School of the Magical Sciences in Translyvania.<br/>With Transylvania's long history of unsuccessful Necromancy, and magical tyrants rising and falling one after the other, Wulfenbach, like Britain and Hogwarts, was a bastion of strength during the global Wizarding War.<br/>A young girl from Romania, Agatha Clay, has just turned Eleven, and finds herself whisked away into a world of mad wizards, mind control, mysterious secret parents, and schoolwork.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to Wulfenbach

"Lilith? I've got a letter in the mail!"

" _You_ got a letter?" She asked, curious. 

Agatha proudly presented the envelope, marked clearly with a golden seal; a tower with wings. Lilith's face froze, and she snatched the letter away, tossing it into the fireplace. "My letter!" Agatha shouted.

"Agatha, go to your room, and fill a suit case with everything you might need. We're going."

"Lilith! What's wrong?" Agatha asked, the letter forgotten. 

"That letter is from someone who's not to be trusted. He might know where we are, so we need to get moving. Go get your things, I'll fetch Adam."

Agatha hesitated for another second, before being gathered into a hug by her mother. "Don't worry Agatha, we'll be fine. We've been doing this for... well, a long time." She said the last part as almost an apology. "But we've never been caught before, and we're not going to be caught now."

"But why? Why do we have to keep running? What does it have to do with my letter-"

"Agatha." Lilith began, setting her down. "Please, I promise, we'll tell you when you're older-"

"You say that all the time!" Agatha cried. She sighed, before turning to go up to her room. "...do I have to leave all my toys here, like last time?"

Lilith shook her head. "Bring as many as you want. I don't think we're in as much of a hurry as last time."

Agatha nodded glumly, and plodded up the stairs to her room. Lilith sighed, wishing that they wouldn't have to do this again. Keeping on the move so often, changing their lives so often, at such a young age... it couldn't be good for Agatha. But it was necessary.

Her eyes flicked over to the fireplace. So, Agatha would be eleven soon. Lilith had always wondered her child's exact birthday, but she supposed it didn't matter now. There was no chance in hell that she was going to allow Agatha to drop right into the hands of the Baron. Not after all the effort Barry and the two of them took hiding her. 

She rushed out of the house, running through town to the machine shop. 

She didn't notice as an owl swooped by and dropped another letter through Agatha's open window. 

* * *

There were two letters in the envelope. One was blank, with a series of forms, and clearly labeled "Return Letter". The other was a letter with a careful signature on the bottom and a list on the back. 

 

 

 

 

>  To Agatha H. Clay
> 
> _You are Hereby accepted, per the law of Pax Transylvania, as a witch, wizard, sorcerer, or other magical person, as a citizen of the lands ruled over by Pax Transylvania, into the Wulfenbach School of Magical Sciences._
> 
> _As a magical person in Wulfenbach's territory, in accordance with the Pax, the enrollment and education in the magical sciences and arts is mandatory and required._
> 
> _A list of required materials is provided, if you or your guardians are unable or unwilling to purchase these materials, a letter to the School, explaining why, must be sent no later than July 31st. If for some reason you or your guardians are unable to purchase the materials, and sent no letter by the described time, a standard set will be provided for your use._
> 
> _A return letter, with any questions, concerns, or advice, should be sent via owl, teleportation, bat, or some other Pax-approved method to the School before July 21st._
> 
> _You will be collected from wherever you reside by August 29th, to begin your education on September 1st. School Holidays exist at the ends of October, December, and March, as well as a two-month Summer holiday. The School will also allow students to return home temporarily for Religious, and Medical reasons, and in the case of family emergencies._
> 
> _What constitutes an "emergency" for any given situation is defined by the Headmaster_
> 
> _We look forward to teaching you, future spark of Transylvania._
> 
> _Boris Dolokhov, Deputy Headmaster of Wulfenbach School_

On the other side was a list of books and school supplies including a-

Agatha blinked, before continuing reading. A cauldron, for one thing, and a wand. A wand. 

For a "School of Magical Sciences". 

She would have just written it off as nonsense, normally. Magic didn't exist. Believing in magic was kids stuff. But Lilith was frightened by the letter. Lilith was cautious, paranoid, and suspicious. But never afraid. That meant that there was _something_ to the letter. Was it in code? Was that a thing real people did? Or just in movies. Or maybe it's a trick. Someone using the promise of a magical school to lure them away from their parents. She could believe that. But the letter said they were going to take her anyway... maybe the trick is to have her send the reply letter, and then they would follow it to her. 

But they sent her the letter. 

Her by name. Agatha. They even knew her middle initial! Lilith never put that on anything. One of Lilith's many secrets. 

Well, no matter what, she wasn't going to mess with these Wulfenbach people, whoever they are. Reading the letter didn't mean anything. What she needed to do was grab her stuff, pack, and get ready to go with Lilith to wherever her next home would be. 

* * *

 

She had no idea what was happening, honestly. 

One moment she was falling asleep in Adam's new workshop, the next, she was lying in her pajamas in the middle of the street, scared onlookers watching her in horror and fascination. 

Their eyes turned occasionally to a flaming building, and Agatha had the irrational thought that it was perhaps her fault. 

Ever since she was little... weird things happened around her. Cups would explode. Clocks would explode. She'd fall off a slide and somehow land in a tree even higher up than where she started. When other people saw weird things happen, Lilith and Adam would discuss (well, communicate, her father wasn't one for words) whether they had to leave town. Set up somewhere else. They always told her how much they loved her, and that when weird stuff happened it wasn't her fault, that it wasn't because of her that they always had to move. 

But they never said what did, if it wasn't her. 

And what had just happened was definitely a Weird Thing. She got up, and ran for home, the people slowly crowding around to watch her, and the fire, parted ways as she passed. 

She made it to the next street over when two men with shaggy hair, and scrunched, savage, ugly faces stood blocking her view. The two glanced at each other, before bending down and scooping her up. "Vell, I tink dis leetle vun is our troublemaker."

"Put me down!" She screamed, and the two immediately slammed hands over her mouth, silencing her. 

"Ho! She's an angry vun."

"Vot did de Baron vant us to do vit her?"

"He had thought dat it'd be somevun older." The monster-man shrugged. "Not a leetle gurl. You don' even have a vand yet, eh?"

Her eyes widened. Wands? These were people connected with the Wulfenbach letters! She immediately began struggling, but they were holding on too strongly. 

"Hey gorl? How old are hyu?" He released his hand temporarily, and she took the chance to bite him. She expected him to shout, to push her away and give her the chance to run, but he merely cracked a grin. "Vell?"

"She's not talking." The other said. "Hy am goink to go tell de Baron dat did vas all over a child. Hyu take her home and get somevun to start obliviating der muggles."

"Hokay." He replied, and turned back to her. "Where do hyu live, leetle gurl?"

"I'm not telling you!" She shouted. "I'm not telling you anything! I read your letter, I know you people are all evil!"

"The letter?" He smiled. "Ah! Dat's goot! Dot means dat hyu are goink to Wulfenbach's school anyvays! I ken just take hyu there!"

Agatha froze. "What?"

"Yah! School vill be startink in a few months!" The monster-man grinned. "If hyu don't tell me where hyu live, hy ken just take hyu to school early."

"What!? No! Put me down!"

"So are hyu goink to tell me vhere hyu live now?" He asked. 

Adam and Lilith were afraid of these people. They were afraid of the letter, and even moved to get away from whoever sent it. If Agatha went home now, she'd be leading them right to her parents. 

"No!" She shouted. And the monster-man shrugged, and swung her over his shoulder.

"Then time for school!" He shouted cheerfully. As her hair swung past his face, the scent splashed over him. "...Hyu smell... nize."

"Put me down!" She shouted, into his ear. 

He frowned, pushing the thought away for another time. 

* * *

 

"So, you thought the best course for this situation, rather than bring her to the nearest Auror's office, was to kidnap her?"

"Yez."

Boris nodded, sighing slightly. Jägers. "What's her name?"

"She vouldn't tell uz."

"Because you kidnapped her?"

"Probably."

"And the next time you find yourself with a lost child, what will you do?"

The Jäger rolled his eyes. "I vill tek it to der Auror's office."

"Anything else to report?"

"Yez... she smelt... verra nize."


	2. Chapter 2

"Don't worry about it!" The happy girl cried behind her. "We get plenty of stay-overs during the Summer. Most of the kids here think of the Castle as home more than our actual houses. You'll fit right in!"

Agatha followed the red head quietly, trying not to cry. She had been brave, but now she was in this place, a "Castle", though from the metal walls, support beams, and rivets in the walls, she felt more like she was inside a submarine. Sleipnir had been nice so far though. They passed through an entrance into a vast hall, on the opposite wall, shaped in solid brass, was a great Tower within a ring, flanked on each side by an Angel's wing. Transcribed underneath it was _Noli Opprimere Me Illuc_. Sleipnir stopped, sensing Agatha's attention being drawn away from her and toward the massive sigil. 

"Ah, yes. The Baron does have a dramatic flair, doesn't he? Not quite as overboard as the usual stock of Wizards in the Empire, but all the same. Maybe it's part of the Transylvania madness."

"What does it mean? The latin?"

"That'll be Wulfenbach's motto. 'noli opprimere me illuc', or 'Don't make me come over there'."

"And Wulfenbach... he's the headmaster, right? And... also a baron?"

The red head turned to her, raising an eyebrow, before sighing. "Muggles really don't catch any of this stuff, do they? He's not just the Baron! Wulfenbach is the greatest Dark Lord in all of the Pax Transylvania! All of the mainland of Europe! Maybe even the greatest Dark Lord in the world! He's the one who stands above all other rulers within the Pax, who runs the school that teaches and controls all the future wizards of the Empire, and who controls the greatest magical military force in Europa!"

Agatha frowned. "You're a fan of his then?"

"Of course!" The redhead beamed. "The Baron seems like a bad guy at first, but he's actually one of the wizards who helped put Europa back together after the Great Wars. He's improved the lives and the order for the Wizards of Europa tremendously. A lot of the kids here wouldn't be alive if it weren't for him."

"hm... why would my parents be scared of him, then. If he's such a good guy?"

"The Baron's still a scary guy. And he tends to do what he thinks is right, but a lot of people tend to disagree on what 'right' is. But then, since your parents are muggles, they probably don't know much about him. Maybe just rumors? They've got to have had wizard ancestry somewhere in their family line for you to have magic. They probably just heard some bad rumors related to the Wulfenbach name."

Agatha thought she had about enough. "And what's all this nonsense about wizards and witches and magic and muggles?"

Sleipnir raised an eyebrow. "I thought they explained everything when they brought you in?"

"But, but they have to be lying! Magic doesn't exist. It's all kids stuff and fairytales!"

Sleipnir quickly led Agatha back into the hallway, out of the open hall, and led her into a darker, out of the way alley of the vast labyrinth of the Castle. She crouched near the ground, and smiled. Agatha still stood, glancing behind her and wondering what all of this had to do with anything. "I think we may be far enough away now. The Castle is constantly expanding, so the wards take time to have an affect." She explained, gesturing to the unfinished looking-walls. "I'm _technically_ not allowed to do magic right now, as classes are out for Summer, _but_!" She grins once more, pulling out a polished wooden stick. "Agatha, back up if you would!"

The blonde girl moved several paces back. "So, that's your magic wand then."

"Yep! Picked it up myself last year! You'll get one soon enough! But first, without any further ado!" She swished the wand up in a sharp slightly bent arc, and muttered the word " _Incendio_ ". There was a sudden burst of flame from the tip of the wand, which, with another quick flick of the stick, was put out. "How about that then, miss Muggleborn?"

"Really?" Agatha asked, unimpressed. "Making fire is one of the easiest things to do. You could have done that in a million different ways! It doesn't prove magic exists."

The redhead looked dejected. "But that's the most impressive one they teach you in first year!"

"Well, let's see some other ones."

"Really?" Sleipnir asked. "But you just said you think I'm faking it."

"We're already here, and you haven't proved anything yet." The younger girl said with a shrug. "Why not try? Everyone here is treating this stuff really seriously so there has to be _something_ to it."

Sleipnir grinned, and once more raised her wand. "Agatha, tap the ground in front of you with your foot."

The younger girl did so, making a show of tapping it multiple times. "Now what happens?"

"Spongify!" Sleipnir said, swishing her wand. "Do it again, same spot."

Agatha stared as the metal gave, like an air mattress, as she pushed her foot down. "That... that's a lot harder to fake."

"And, to top it off. Wingardium Leviosa." She said happily, giving a swish and a flick. Agatha felt herself rise off the ground, and quickly began reaching for the walls, trying to find some traction. 

"Makeitstopplease." She pleaded, and the other girl quickly let her down. 

"So, do you believe me now?" Sleipnir said, smirking.

"...I don't know." Agatha said. "I don't know how or why you could have faked that but..." she threw her hands up in frustration, "magic just can't be real! Just like that, out of nowhere, suddenly magic and Wizards are real?"

"A lot of people feel like that at first." Sleipnir frowned. "Usually they send a wizard to speak with new Muggleborn students and their parents... but since you won't tell them-"

"-And I'm not going to!" Agatha said defiantly.

"I guess you had to learn the rough way. Were you really dragged here by a Jägermonster?"

"That hairy creature? Yeah."

"Sorry about that... not exactly the best introduction to all this, is it?"

"...Not exactly." The two made their way back to the great hall, which at this point was now speckled with people eating dinner. "So this is it then? Just... stay here, and become a wizard?"

"A witch, actually."

"What's the difference?"

"A wizard is a male witch."

"I thought that was a warlock."

"No, no, that's a common misconception, you see a warlock is-" she stopped, turning her head and smiling. "Oh! There he is!" She pointed at a group of bizarre looking people centered around a single table. They were all adults, wearing outfits that were clearly uniforms. In the center of it all, barking orders between bites, was a massive man with shaggy grey hair and a vaguely squarish nose. "That's the Baron! The big one, in the center."

Agatha frowned, took a deep breath, and began walking toward the group. Sleipnir was frozen for a second, before grabbing her arm and yanking her back. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to get an explanation for all this!" the eleven year old said. 

"You can't just walk up and talk to Baron Wulfenbach!"

"You said he wasn't a bad guy."

"But he's also terrifying! And look, he's busy!"

"He's having dinner."

"And we shouldn't interrupt him so he doesn't turn us into frogs!"

Agatha stopped, looking nervous for a second. "...Could he do that?"

"Easily!"

She shook her head in an attempt to clear the fears and got up again, ducking out of Sleipnir's grasp and nearly jogging to the table. As she approached, the sounds of arguing became more and more present. "Maybe he really is too busy." she muttered, before moving closer. "Excuse me!"

The arguing came to a halt over a few delayed seconds, as suddenly a half-dozen intimidating adults that looked more like they belonged in a cartoon than a school were staring at her with emotions that ranged from simple surprise, to irritation, to fury. The Baron stared her down without emotion, his eyes locking with hers and holding her entire body in place. "Yes?" He asked quietly.

"Y-you..." Agatha gulped. "You kidnapped me!" She finally announced. The Baron merely raised one bushy grey eyebrow in response. 

"And?" He asked.

She glanced at the others there, before turning her eyes back to the Baron. "Send me back home." She said, her accusatory tone fading into nonexistence. 

The man turned to look at another, standing next to him. This man had brown hair and massive sideburns. "Boris?" The Baron asked. 

"A girl named Agatha. Refuses to give her last name or identify her parents. Presumably Muggleborn. When she was picked up the Jägers stated that it was because of a disturbance that was magical in nature, a spontaneous housefire, and she the cause of it. Presumably a manifestation of untrained emotion-based magic. Common enough."

"And they brought her here?"

"Yes. She's been suspicious and paranoid of us since she's been brought up. As well as generally unhelpful."

"Ah. Well, those are traits that I hope to inspire within my students." The Baron said, smiling slightly before continuing. "Agatha, I'm afraid I'm not going to send you anywhere, but perhaps to another table." He narrowed his eyes. "I kidnap a lot of people, Agatha. Many of the students at this school have been, as they called it, kidnapped. Attendance for magical children under my rule is mandatory. You are here, and you will stay here. You are allowed to complain, as it is understandable for you to be doing it." He bent down, to meet her eyes, and she wanted to take a step back, but found she couldn't, yet. His eyes met hers, and she felt a ticklish sensation in the back of her head. The Baron frowned slightly more, before rising back up. "But, you do not want to be annoying. This is a matter that will affect your comfort during your kidnapping. You will be still already kidnapped whether you are annoying or not, but less horrible things tend to happen to less annoying people. Am I understood?"

"Y-yes."

"Good. Now run off, and do not interrupt me again. There will be Consequences. If you have question of import or valid complaints, or perhaps wish to offer more information regarding your family or your name, please contact any lower staff member, so long as they are not obviously busy, as I obviously was."

"yes."

"Good. _Go_." And Agatha went. Very quickly. All the way back to the tiny alley where Sleipnir had shown her her magic. And then she sat down, and told herself, she would never, ever, bother the Baron again.

* * *

 

"I'm terribly sorry about that Sir. Should I have someone watching her? A Muggleborn let loose on the Castle for two months with nothing to do will lead to I'm sure a great deal of inconveniences." Boris began. 

"No. However... did anyone attempt reading her mind while she was processed for her stay here?"

"No, Baron, she was transported here via the Jägermonsters. They took used the Floo network to bring her directly to the Castle, where they essentially left her, without explaining anything, in the hands of some construction workers, who quickly passed her over to one of the lower secretaries on the chain, who dumped her into the school system with only a first name, and then let her run free in the student area."

"Incompetent." It was the worst insult the Baron could offer, to one of his own people. "They just foisted a Muggleborn Witch from one to another, simply because they didn't want to deal with her? No wonder she's unusually angry. Or even showed enough courage to face me. If she had received a proper introduction to the world of wizardy, she'd have been terrified of me from the beginning."

"...Should I have the Jäger involved punished?"

"No, Jägers will do what they do." The Baron gave a slightly sarcastic smile. "And he even wrote a report. What more can you ask from one?" He was serious in an instant "but everyone else involved will receive a warning, and educated that their behavior through this event is _not_  up to my standards. I give few warnings, Boris."

"Yes Herr Baron."

"...The girl is an occulumens."

Dolokhov, his face always serious, raised a surprised eyebrow. "Impossible."

"I do so distrust it when that's someone's first reaction to a fact."

"How do you know? Did she resist your-"

"She resisted my legilimency completely."

"Completely?" The others at the table, who had mostly continued their conversation without the Baron, upon seeing that the Baron was only speaking to a child, and then a somewhat friendly side to Boris, stopped at that, surprised and shocked. 

"Yes." He said, interested. "Her mind was impenetrable."

"Impossible." Said another of his aides. The Baron sighed. 

"But still true. Perhaps an inborn gift? Children have a greater propensity for wandless magic, before well, they get their wands... and affiliation for certain types of magic does run in families. It may give us a clue to her parents, if we have records of any occulumens prodigies in the area."

"I'll add it to the list, sir."

* * *

 

"Are you okay?" Sleipnir asked, crouching down to sit next to where Agatha had sunk to the floor. "I can't believe you actually went up to the Baron and demanded something! He looked into your eyes, didn't he?"

"Yes." She said, still crying a little. "Did he do something to me?"

"He was just reading your mind, but he could have done a lot worse if you annoyed him!"

"He read my mind?!" Agatha hissed, frightened. "Oh no. Adam and Lilith, he _knows_ \- Lilith was so scared of him, and now he knows where they are!" She jumped up, running from the hall, going down a randomly selected pathway at full blast.

"Agatha? Where are you going?!"

"I don't know!" She shouted back. "Out of the castle!"

"You can't do that! You'll fall!" Sleipnir shouted, running after her junior. Agatha turned down hallways at random, in a mad rush. She wasn't truly thinking about anything beyond getting back home, and warning Adam and Lilith. But the more she thought about that, the more she realized that was a very bad plan. Lilith was already making preparations to leave, and they seemed to have a very good idea of when Weird Things happened, and they took care of it immediately, taking Agatha away and whisking their little family to some other part of rural Romania. 

She slowed, thinking finally. There were really only two things that Adam and Lilith could be doing. The first, most likely, is staying hidden while also looking for Agatha. The second, and while she was both saddened and hopeful for it, was that they would abandon Agatha and leave for wherever they were planning to move to next. There was no way, after all, that her parents could break into a magic castle, no matter how strong Adam was or how smart Lilith was. 

She stopped, sighing, and nearly fell back to the floor to cry again. Turning slowly, she saw Sleipnir screeching to a halt, breathing hard. "Agatha!" She called, "What were you going to do?"

"I don't know... I don't think I can do anything, right now."

"Do... do you think the Baron will hurt your parents?"

"I don't know." She repeated, and she slowly began walking back the way she came. "...Is there a way out of the castle?" She said slowly. 

"Well... the easiest way out is down." Agatha raised an eyebrow, and Sleipnir led her down one of the many steel tunnels that made up the labyrinth. Stopping at a round glass window, Sleipnir looked around cautiously, before whispering _Wingardium Leviosa_ and lifting a now much lighter Agatha onto her shoulders to look outside. 

"Oh my god. We're on a plane?! The castle is a giant plane?!"

"No, not a plane! It's an airship! It's got a lot of big balloons in the center of it, and a lot of levitation spells and runes."

"Castle in the sky..." She whispered. "I'm doomed. There's no way that Adam and Lilith are going to get up here... that monster man, he just talked to this other guy, who took me into a building, the door did something weird, and then I was in here.... I... I had assumed we went underground, or something! How did we get into the air?!"

"You probably were teleported up here. The Baron has wards against just anyone apparating in, but there are a few places where his agents can get in and out in an instant."

"Teleported." Agatha sighed, standing back on the ground and feeling the affects of gravity once more. Magic was definitely real, then. "...And there's no way off?"

"You could jump."

"..."

"Joking." She said, rolling her eyes at the younger girl. "Hm... well, there are some places in the ship that you can teleport in or out of, using portkeys, and some places you can apparate out, if you get permission, but you don't know that spell, and I don't know that spell, and we won't be getting permission... the wards deactivate all broomstick enchantments, unless they have certain runes keyed into them, and only Wulfenbach ships can approach or leave the castle, otherwise they just become confused and crash."

"So I'm stuck here."

"Sorry Agatha."

"...Alright." She said, defeated. "For now."

* * *

 

Sleipnir led Agatha through the dormitory, smiling to herself. "Now, with how we're organized, everyone in year three and below share a branch of the dormitory, divided between the boys and girls. Everyone older than that has their own branch on the opposite end. Two people to a room. As I have a bunk open, you are officially my roommate."

"Fun." Agatha said, with some feeling. "I'm glad its with you rather than some random person."

Sleipnir nodded. "I didn't have a roommate last year! I'm excited. Everyone else talks about all the drama, and I din't get in on any of it!"

"Uh huh." Agatha followed her through to the common room, where multiple tables had been set up, a veritable library of bookshelves adorning the walls many times higher than any of the students would be able to reach, and covered with crooked ladders. Floating, in midair, were multiple chandelier-worth of lit candles, minus the chandeliers themselves. She idly worried about having wax drip on her, but looking at the floor, she guessed it wasn't an issue. More magic. 

"Now, most of the kids go home in the summer, but there are a lot of us special cases that the Baron has to keep a special watch on. Mostly the children of great houses the Baron wants kept under his foot, like my parents."

"Oh! You were kidnapped too?"

"Sure, I mean, technically."

"I'm so sorry... do you parents worry about you?"

"Why would they?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Really, I have to worry more about them. If they start getting uppity with the baron, he has to pretend to threaten me, I'm a hostage after all." She noticed the look on Agatha's face, and Sleipnir put up her hands to placate her. "No! Don't worry, I know what I said about the Baron, but really, he's never hurt any of us! All this hostage stuff is political, it's actually more fun to be here than be at home. And besides... Madam Von Pinn would nearly kill him if he tried."

"Von Pinn?" Agatha asked, not liking the suddenly-awe-filled and respectful tone Sleipnir gave the name. 

"She's a Construct, we think. We're not quite sure. She isn't human, at the very least."

"...She's not human?"

"She's basically the guardian of the children in the castle, she makes sure we're happy, healthy, and doing our schoolwork. She's strict, harsh, and terrifying, but we all love her, you'll see."

"Alright then... what's a construct?"

"Hm... you know the story of Frankenstein, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, it's a bit like Frankenstein's monster. Transylvania has a long, long history of unsuccessful necromancy, and Constructs are about the closest Wizards have come to actually bringing back the dead. Y'see, there's this thing called an Inferi, which is the basic animated corpse."

"Like a zombie?"

"No, no, zombies are.... well, animated corpses, but the science behind it is completely different."

"It's magic! There is no science behind it!"

"Of course there is. This is the Wulfenbach School of Magical Sciences. Science is in the name. Most wizards trust that magic just happens how it should, like how the sky's blue. They don't question the 'why' like Wulfenbach does. But... basically, a zombie is animated by natural magic, while Inferi are created through man-made magic. Anyway, the Inferi are your basic animated corpses. One dead body, with the full set of Dark Arts applied to it. A Construct, is a specially-designed body with Inferi spells, and a few other ones added on to it. You see, Inferi don't have souls, so they don't have working memories, or complex thought, or a sense of self. But there's way to give objects those qualities, like talking books or talking portraits. So for ages, Dark Wizards have been experimenting with combining techniques to truly bring back someone as they lived... but... it's been mostly unsuccessful."

"...This is terrifying, you know that, right?"

"You get used to it. This isn't Beauxbaton or Hogwarts you know."

"I don't know what either of those words mean."

"They're... other magical schools. Wow, you have a lot to get caught up on!"

"So, if I got the gist of it, this Madam Von Pinn is a zombie?"

"No! She's a construct, like, a female Frankenstein monster. They teach you all about it in Dark Arts."

"And that's... a class?" Agatha said, following the pattern. Sleipnir nodded enthusiastically. "A class where we learn how to create monsters... wow."

"Yep."

The two of them went through the halls, Sleipnir pointing out important places and stuff to do, as well as some of the other students who had stayed over the summer. "That's Theo, he's a great storyteller, a wizard, he's a year ahead of me right now, but he's likely to become the Head Boy in a few years." She leaned over and whispered conspiratorially "He's also related to Lucreiza Mongfish."

"Who is that?"

"...You don't even know Mongfish!? Have you even read a Heterodyne Boys story?!"

"Um. No?"

"Agh! We'll need to get that rectified. Theo can help with that, he makes up the best ones." She pointed to two other boys speaking to each other. "That's Z, he's a nephew of the Iron Sheikh- but you wouldn't know who that is either. Also a wizard. And that's Hezekiah, his father's a powerful wizard in Poland, but he's a squib himself."

"A squib?"

"Oh, the child of a wizard, but who doesn't have the ability to use a wand. The letter system can really only detect witches and wizards within the Pax, but Squibs from important families are likely to come here too for hostage reasons. All wizards and witches in the Pax have to come to the castle to learn though. You got your letter, right?"

"I don't have it with me though... how can they not know my name, but still send me a letter with my last name on it?"

"Ah, the letters are sent out on automatic. A magic quill writes down the name of each magical child to turn eleven within the Pax. Then the quill teleports the letter to you."

"So... it's done automatically, and thats why no one knew who I was?"

"Yeah, but once the first Truant Officer Golems are set lose they'll figure it out."

"How? Well... if Wulfenbach read my mind, he probably already knows."

"The Golems go to everywhere the letter was sent, but that didn't send a child. If the Golem can't find a child at their address, a search is called for them. Wizards are very good at looking for things."

"..."

"Don't worry! I'm sure your parents will be fine, in fact, I bet they'll be relieved once the Golem comes to find them, and figures out that you've been at Wulfenbach the whole time."

"It won't find my parents." Agatha said, proud and a little sad. "They're very good at keeping hidden and on the move."

Sleipnir shrugged, "Over there is Zulenna, she's part of the Fifty Families, a long, long, line of Pureblood Wizard families. She's a squib. Don't mention it, or she'll destroy you. But at the same time, don't let her rag on you for being a Muggleborn."

"Got it."

"And, last but not least, Gilgamesh Holzfaller!"

"Hi Sleipnir." Said a small boy, short for his age, with fluffy brown hair. "Who's this?"

"This is Agatha." Sleipnir said, extending an arm as if to present her. "No last name."

"I have a last name, thank you very much..."

"You know the Baron already read your mind." Sleipnir said. 

"...Fine. Clay. Agatha Clay. Nice to meet you, Gilg-"

"Gil's fine." He said, smiling. "It's nice to have another Muggleborn around during the Summer."

Sleipnir frowned. "Gil's on the bottom of the pecking order, right now. He's been here forever, a ward of the School, and he's muggleborn, which doesn't help him with all these royal purebloods running around."

"Well, nice to meet you Gil."

 


End file.
